Impiric moves key staff in SEA reshuffle

<p>SINGAPORE: Impiric is reshuffling its management line-up in three </p><p>Asian markets. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Its Philippine president Birgit Baier-Buesgen will take over as general </p><p>manager in Singapore from Geoff Collins, who moves to the Bangkok office </p><p>on October 1. Collins has yet to finalise his new title, but he will </p><p>manage an undisclosed account that Impiric recently won. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Damian Byrne, Impiric client services director in the Philippines, will </p><p>move up as general manager of the Manila office, although Baier-Buesgen </p><p>will manage that office from Singapore until Byrne is settled. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Impiric's Asia-Pacific president, Wolfgang Haf, said: "I've known Birgit </p><p>for a long time and she brings to the Singapore office a high level of </p><p>energy and passion. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"She's created a good operation in Manila and her task in Singapore will </p><p>be to totally integrate the business by ensuring all the entities - </p><p>direct marketing, sales promotion, teleservices, database management and </p><p>so on - are working well together." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Baier-Buesgen said the Singapore office was more established - it has </p><p>around 100 employees - but still faced a major challenge. "The </p><p>competition in Singapore is stronger and more established than in the </p><p>Philippines," she said. </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>"I am used to working in emerging markets where direct marketing is in </p><p>its infancy. With markets like the Philippines there are no consumer </p><p>databases - you start with promotions to collect the data and learn </p><p>customer insights." </p><p><BR><BR> </p><p>Baier-Buesgen joined Impiric in Manila in October 1999, when it had one </p><p>other employee. The Philippine office now has 27 staff and handles the </p><p>IBM, Citibank, Siemens (corporate) and Ford accounts. </p><p><BR><BR> </p>